


Asterism

by rusalki



Category: Glowfic and Related Works, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Child Abuse, Gen, you don't need to know glowfic to read this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 00:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15425238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rusalki/pseuds/rusalki
Summary: Adara is seven years old when Regulus is born. Her father places Regulus in her arms and tells her how to hold his head and he is sosmall, this little bundle that is her brother.“Ada,” Regulus calls her as she steps between him and Orion and begs an apology from Sirius with her eyes, because she isn’t big enough yet to protect them both.When Adara is nine and Regulus two, she learns to cast a shield spell with an uncle’s cast-off wand.





	Asterism

**Author's Note:**

> "In observational astronomy, an asterism is a popular known pattern or group of stars that are recognised in the night sky. This colloquial definition is very similar to a constellation, but they differ mostly in that a constellation is an officially recognized area of the sky, while asterisms do not have officially determined boundaries. Asterisms are therefore just a more general concept, and may only refer to any identified pattern of stars. ... They may even include stars from more than one constellation.
> 
> Asterisms are frequently only simple shapes, containing many or just a few bright stars, making them easy to identify. This can be particularly useful for people who are familiarizing themselves with the night sky."  
> \- Asterism (astronomy)

Adara is seven years old when Regulus is born. Sirius is five, and later she’ll comment bitterly about _an heir and a spare and I guess they didn’t try too hard after that_ , but now her father is placing Regulus in her arms and telling her how to hold his head and he is so _small_ , this little bundle that is her brother.

When her parents fight, she escapes to his nursery until that isn’t a safe space anymore, and then she takes him and hides in the library. She reads him _The Golden Kneazle_ and _The Tale of the Three Brothers_ and when she runs out of fairy tales she reads him _Warding Through the Ages_ and _The Arte of Brewing_ and anything she can get her hands on. _Shields and Countercurses_ she reads over and over. Her father gets angry, and Sirius isn’t a baby anymore and still not _listening_ and she’s not big enough to hide Regulus and Sirius too.

 

“Ada,” Regulus calls her as she steps between him and Orion and begs an apology from Sirius with her eyes, because she isn’t big enough yet.

( _she isn’t big enough_ )

“Dara,” Sirius flings at her as they yell at each other in the furthest bedroom, Adara screaming everything she can’t tell their parents.

( _she isn’t enough_ )

“Adara,” her parents admonish her when she corrects a guest at one of their endless parties about the first step of an alchemical process, the sharpness of their words the only hint of future punishment. “Adara, that’s no way for a lady of House Black to behave.”

( _she isn’t -_ )

 

When Adara is nine and Regulus two, she learns to cast a shield spell with an uncle’s cast-off wand.

 

When Adara is ten and Regulus three, he asks her if she’s going to leave like cousin Andy did.

“Only for a little bit, Egg,” she whispers, “and not ‘til next year.”

She starts to sneak into the library at night and find the books she isn’t allowed to read, on the Dark Arts and blood magic and complex rituals. The first one she tries leaves her unconscious until halfway through the next day, awaking to her mother’s acerbic commentary on children who can’t even be bothered to get out of bed in the morning. The second does nothing at all. The third breaks her wand in half, and she’s left panicking in the library until Kreacher tugs on the sleeve of her robe and wordlessly shows her the old wand case in the attic. The twenty-ninth she adjusts, painstakingly, until it seems as safe as she can make it. When she tries it, finally, with her blood as a bond and her brothers as a focus - it’s not perfect. But it’s something.

 

When Adara is eleven and Regulus four, she holds his hand as they floo in to Platform 9 ¾. She’s in her third-best robes, her own wand strapped to her forearm, and a fixed smile. He has as many wards on him as she could muster and her quiet reassurances in his ear.

“I’ll write,” she tells her brothers. “Sirius -”

The pause means _take care of Regulus_ , and _please don’t cause trouble_ and _be safe._

“You’ll be back soon, right, Ada?”

“Just a couple months, and it’ll be Christmas. And maybe the head of Slytherin will let me use the Floo.”

Their parents turn to them from a conversation with the Flints, and Adara drops Regulus’ hand.

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you confused by the glowfic tag, it's a type of rp where among others I write an OC, Daria, who is in this instance named Adara Black. Other than the changes from her existence and one extra character who will show up if I write anything about Adara's Hogwarts years, this universe is entirely set in canon Harry Potter. I did adjust Regulus and Sirius' ages based on the assumption that the parents Black wouldn't have been in such a hurry to have a third child.
> 
> Please do excuse (but point out! please!) any mistakes, awkward phrasing, etc. I wrote this in an hour at 2 in the morning and haven't edited at all.


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